If I had the power to change things and to add to the reset agenda of our President to get Ghana to where we want, my wish would be a regularisation of the commercial motorcycle business popularly known as “Okada”.
Driving into Accra, using the Graphic Road, this lady heard a bang on her right side driving mirror as she slowed down to the traffic light which had turned amber. Just as she stopped, an Okada rider with a passenger sitting behind whisked past her at high speed, ignoring the traffic lights which by then had turned red.
In the process, he knocked down her side mirror and sped off. Lost in awe and disgust, some bystanders came to her aid as she started to pick up the pieces of the broken mirror, cutting short her plans for the day.
She turned round to go to a motor firm which was not too far from where she had met that distressful shock to ask for a replacement estimate. She could not believe the unplanned cost she was being saddled with.
Outlawed
And yet, this whole Okada business, causing havoc and getting away with murder is technically not permissible on our roads. In fact, it is said to be outlawed by Part IV Section 128 of the Road Traffic Regulations.
In a recent television discussion programme, I even heard a Lawyer alluding to the fact that he made a categorical statement that Okada is an illegality. Surprisingly, however, it looks like one of the flourishing businesses in town with a multiplying number of them on the road.
So how can an outlawed business get cleared access with systems firmly in place for importers to bring in these motorcycles? On top of that, this illegality gets somehow legalised as it gets another impetus for registration at the Driver, Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA), to go and ply on our roads with no legal backing.
Okada, even though illegal, is causing mayhem on our roads and making victims of drivers and pedestrians alike. What gets mind-bugging is that even though law enforcers encounter them, they look helpless with arrest.
To those who understand and feel their inflicted pain, one continues to ask the question, “Why have we, as a country, allowed this illegality to fester despite the dangers it poses on our roads”? Are we happy to leave them as is because it is giving jobs to the youth? Are we not encouraging the youth to be lawless and disrespect laws?
Okada is a classic example of impunity, a case study for the classroom. It is probably one most unprovoked attacks on the people and could be compared to another illegality such as illegal mining, better known as galamsey.
It is only for the reason that galamsey has become a slow poison for mass destruction of lives and human survival that we seem to have escalated its ills and averted our minds to it calling for its immediate ban. To some of us who drive in certain parts of the city, Okada is a comparable thorn in our flesh, even if on a minor scale.
Nemesis
The ills of that illegal business may be downplayed because one may not have been a victim but those who have been traumatised on the road, have had their vehicles destroyed, maimed and sometimes lost dear ones knocked down by reckless riders while crossing the road, Okada business is their nemesis. They kill and destroy and get away with it, only to go and do it again elsewhere because no one can stop them.
What is wrong, they say, is wrong and so like illegal mining, should we not focus concerted attention on Okada and campaign seriously for its regularisation if a ban is not comfortable? The resetting agenda for the Ghana we all want is a most welcome idea and will be complete if Okada is also squarely tackled as seen best by law.
Operators’ recklessness on our roads is life and property threatening and the more one looks at it, it will take only the goodwill of a government given an overwhelming power by the people, to reverse the ills. Okada has killed and maimed pedestrians, sometimes bolting away and leaving victims to their fate.
They feel they are the only smart guys on the roads as they squeeze through traffic scratching and knocking vehicles which wait patiently in line. They ride on opposite sides of traffic and cross red lights at traffic intersections without any sense of duty.
As Okada business keeps multiplying and the impunities get overwhelming, it calls for action to curb the illegality. They are a force to reckon with and the only mercy for drivers and pedestrians at this moment is to ride on the back of the resetting agenda to give a clear direction to their operation.
That would be one’s wish for the ultimate restoration of order on our inner-city roads. Nonetheless, while wishes are not horses, one can only plead for some modest restoration of sanity, standing on the existing massive political goodwill chalked.
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The writer can be contacted via email at [email protected]
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